"Broadcom is simplifying the development of next-generation Blu-ray and HD
DVD products with a proven, complete single-chip solution that offers OEMs both
a time-to-market advantage and cost-effective design," said Peter Besen, Vice
President, Consumer Electronics, Broadband Communications Group, of
Broadcom.

"Consumers have expressed interest in adding high definition disc players to
their home theater and personal movie entertainment systems, but are cautious
about adopting the 'wrong' format," said Richard Doherty, Research Director of
The Envisioneering Group. "We have found that four out of five American
consumers have expressed knowledge of and/or interest in the availability of
consumer products and PCs which could play both HD DVD and Blu-ray media.
Broadcom's complete Blu-ray/HD DVD solution is best positioned to drive the wide
adoption of the kinds of high-performance, dual-format products consumers
want."

The BCM7440 incorporates the decoding, processing and memory functions for
both Blu-ray and HD DVD media players, eliminating the need for manufacturers to
build two different hardware platforms. The chip supports the wide variety of
mandatory audio and video compression standards required for Blu-ray and HD DVD
optical disc formats, including H.264/AVC, VC-1 , MPEG-2, Dolby Digital Plus,
Dolby Tru-HD and DTS-HD. The BCM7440 also provides full backwards compatibility
for current DVD video titles as well as DVD-R, DVD-VR and audio CDs.

The BCM7440 is now sampling in volume quantities to early access
customers. No hybrid players using the new chip have been announced yet.

Last month, NEC announced a similar
development of a dual-format chip. The next step in bridging the two formats
could be a hybrid optical pick-up that would be capable of reading media from
both formats.

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